Within walking distance: Six months of SNAPs
Our first impact report on the Sanitary Napkin Access Programme shows what women in Daspalla built, and what we still need to find out.
50,129 packets of pads distributed
3,007 women and girls reached (JRP estimate)
1,000 women screened for infections
£5,163 total Phase 1 cost ( ₹ 660,871)
The gap SNAPs works on
India's national health survey for 2019 to 2021 (NFHS-5) found that 78% of women aged 15 to 24 use a hygienic method during their period: 73% in rural areas, against nearly 90% in towns and cities. In Daspalla, field reports point to a wider gap. Pads usually meant a trip to town, when they were bought at all, and menstrual health was rarely taught.
The entitlement now exists on paper. On 30 January 2026, India's Supreme Court held that menstrual health is part of the right to life, and directed every state to make sure schools have toilets and menstrual products. JRP reports that government pad supply to five SNAPs partner schools has since stopped, and those schools now use JeevanSathi pads made in Daspalla.
What we did
SNAPs, our Sanitary Napkin Access Programme, runs in 25 tribal villages and 10 schools with Jeevan Rekha Parishad (JRP), under JRP's JeevanSathi brand. It links three things: pads made locally, supply close to home, and health workers who talk openly about menstrual health and refer women for care. Day to day, 167 local women and girls run it as producers, depot champions, health workers and peer mentors.
What changed
Supply: 50,129 packets distributed, just over the target of 50,000.
Learning: 3,005 attendances at menstrual health sessions. JRP estimates 3,007 women and girls took part, including 565 schoolgirls recorded on school registers.
Leadership: 87 SATHI mentors, all girls and young women, lead 40 peer clubs.
Health: a gynaecologist screened 1,000 women. 630 had symptoms and 481 were referred to a clinic. JRP reports 114 treated, a figure we're still verifying.
Income: producers earned ₹ 90,000 (about £703) in stipends, plus ₹ 13,000 (about £102) from extra sales.
Disposal: pits in 17 of 25 villages, 10 already in use, and five school incinerators fitted in July.
Early signs suggest the referral pathway works up to the clinic door. What happens next is less clear. 367 referred women have no recorded outcome yet, and because Phase 1 had no endline survey, we can't yet say whether health, school attendance or confidence changed. The report says so plainly.
“Delivery is the easier half. Output data shows supply, but it cannot show whether knowledge, stigma or health has changed.”
What we learned
Running the hub taught us as much as the numbers did. Production peaked in May, and output followed who turned up rather than what had been ordered. Phase 2 starts by making monthly production reliable before anyone new joins.
Distance is likely one reason referrals stall. A woman sent to a clinic pays a fare and loses a day's earnings before she pays for anything else. Phase 2 follow-up will record travel time alongside cost, so we can tell the two apart. We're also tightening how we count people. “Reached” means attending at least one activity, and without a unique ID, one woman may be counted more than once. We also plan to move producers to piece-rate pay, a step towards a hub they run as their own enterprise.
Why it matters
Menstrual health touches a girl's schooling, a woman's health and a family's income at the same time. In Daspalla, women make the product, run the depots and lead the conversations. Phase 1 cost ₹ 660,871 (£5,163) in total, funded by the Monsoon Accessorize Trust and The Advocacy Project.
What's next
Phase 2, from August 2026 to January 2027, will test whether the model works as well as it delivers. That means finding out what happened to each of the 367 women, keeping production steady, and measuring change in every village and school. We'll decide on expansion in January.
Rupee amounts are converted at ₹ 128 to £1, the rate used in our SNAPs Phase 1 report.
Read the full SNAPs Phase 1 report, including the figures we’re still checking and what we’re changing as a result
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